One Last Chance | Book 3 | Sal Vulcano

Ch. 12

After our little talk, Joe and I decided to start putting the ornaments on the tree. The lights were already wrapped around the trees' branches, so we didn't have to worry about that whole mess. So we started with the bin that was opened and the first ornament that was placed was my precious Elvis Presley one. Soon after, the tree was being filled with ornaments.

"Let's talk about something." Joe said as he placed a hook on the string.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"I don't want to ruin the mood," Joe started, "but I want to talk about you and Sal."

I felt my smile disappear. "I don't have anything to do with him."

Joe completely passed what I said aloud. "Have you guys been talking at all?"

"No." I said honestly. "The only time we really did was at his party a weeks ago. Other than that, nope."

"Why don't you? I thought you guys wanted to build a friendship." Joe said placing a different ornament on the tree.

"Look, I really wanted to. But obviously Sal wants nothing to do with me since him and Madeline are together-"

"They broke up." Joe stated plainly.

I froze from what I was doing. "They broke up?"

"Yeah." Joe replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"He said it was a waste of time. There was no point on it when he already wants someone else." Joe replied.

"Who is it?" I asked

Joe completely ignored my question. "If Sal came up to the door, what would you do?"

I thought about my answer before I replied. I didn't want to say anything that would make me sound like an asshole. "I would let him in. He's not a burden to me."

"Would you let him hug you?" Joe asked.

I shook my head in confusion. "I don't know!"

I heard Joe sigh. He set down the ornament in his hand then turned to look at me.

"Look, I'm going to say this without any hesitation. I don't have any room to forgive Sal on what he did to you. I know he's my best friend and everything, but you are so much closer to me than Sal and I are. After that big argument we had about him, I knew it was probably over. Over the past few months, I come to realize that you were right, there was no need to keep shoving Sal deeper in the barrel when he was deep down there already. But I still did give him a piece of my mind, all three of us did. He said he would never hurt you again, but he did when you came in and saw his ex cuddled up with him on the couch. That wasn't right. So, what I'm saying is, it's going to be hard for me to trust him around you. I don't know why, but I know I will. You are too good of a human being to be put through this." Joe said.

Before I responded, I launched my arms around Joe's waist. He was surprised, but eventually he fell into the hug. Joe was like the big brother I never had, and it was great to have him in my life.

Though we both lifted our heads and parted when we heard a knock at my door. Charlie came running into the room and started to bark. Lady just hopped up in the couch and stared at the door. I shushed Charlie then looked in my peephole. There he was, standing in front of my door.

"Who is it?" Joe asked.

"The devil himself." I replied before opening the door.

"Hi Addison." Sal sadly waved at me.

"Hello." I replied. "What do you want?"

"I came to talk to you. But I now realized that that's Joe's car in the driveway." Sal said with an uneasy chuckle. "But can I still come in?"

I looked over at Joe, who just continued to put ornaments on my tree. I sighed as I opened the door wider. "You may come in."

Sal smiled as he walked into the house. He slipped off his shoes then took off his hat, coat, and scarf. His best friend, Lady, came up to Sal and rubbed up against his legs. Sal chuckled as he started to pet her behind the ears.

I went back to my work with Joe as Sal petted the dogs. "Help yourself to anything if you want something." I said.

"I'm good for now." Sal said quietly. I saw he looked at the tree. "It's nice to see that you put the tree up."

"I love this tree. You know that." I said to him.

I saw a flicker of love glisten Sal's eyes. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey Sal. How are you doing buddy?" Joe asked as he gave his friend a hug.

"Been pretty good. Been very eventful, but good." Sal responded.

'He was lying' I thought.

"That's good to hear. No one that you are seeing now, huh?" Joe joked as he nudged his friend.

"Nope." Sal responded before looking in my direction.

This was going to be an eventful day...

>><<

Sorry if it's short, but this is going to be maybe an emotional "three part" day. And if You are wondering why I haven't updated 'Growing Into Love', I have been in a writers block because I have so much I want to write for this one. So I'm super sorry.

School is going well, if you are wondering. Even though I'm in three College Prep classes and one honors class, I haven't had a ton of homework. Though, it's only going to be the third week this week, so I know homework will be pushed my way. So that means, I have to do that first instead of updating. So if it's a long time since I've updated, you'll know why.

I'll update you guys on what going on on my message board! I won't spam all of you, but if I'm gone for a while, just check up on my board. I will update when I can.

Sorry for the short chapter, but I promise it will all get better.

Also, Brian and Addison are just friends!

Or are they ;))